Trip tips

I was three weeks out from a 23-day travel itinerary with my toddler, Julian, when my dad died suddenly. The trip was something I had planned months earlier, determined to prove to all the face-palming naysayers (and myself) that you don’t have to give up traveling after having a baby; you just have to find new ways to move through the world. Due to grief, I considered canceling, but ultimately I decided against it. My father was a textbook agoraphobic who shut himself off from the world and at the end was leaving his house only once or twice a year. But travel was how I learned who I was and who I wanted to be. I’d been to more than 80 countries and spent four years traveling full-time with a 35-liter rucksack and a tiny hatchback. If I could bestow any qualities onto my child, I hoped they’d be my strongest ones: insatiable curiosity, relentless optimism, fiery resilience, and a willingness to bend to my environment rather than expecting my environment to bend to me.

Southwest Airlines is giving travelers a chance to earn a promotional Companion Pass® after flying one round-trip flight. This pass is essentially a buy one ticket, get one ticket free, allowing two companions to travel together. However, this promotion is only available until March 27, 2024.

Washington, DC, is surprisingly easy to navigate – this is, after all, America's first planned city, laid out according to a grid system and intentionally filled with leafy parks and town squares. That said, a little pre-trip planning goes a long way here, especially if you're hoping to check out its museums and government buildings, many of which have strict rules.

As the saying goes, don't judge a book by its cover – and the same phrase can be applied to a credit card's annual fee.

Grab a friend and get ready to hit the skies by scoring one of Southwest Airlines’ limited-time Companion Passes, available by flying just one roundtrip flight.

Plenty of travelers will undertake a trip of a lifetime to Europe this year, spending weeks or months on the continent, hopping between countries and cities. Long trips can take their toll on mental and physical health but there are some precautions you can take and items you can pack to keep you feeling at the top of your vacation game. “The demands of constantly navigating different time zones, climates and destinations require us to be proactive in caring for our health and wellbeing while traveling,” says Jessica Sepel, founder of Australian wellness brand JSHealth Vitamins. Here are some tips for how to stay healthy while traveling around Europe.

Western Washington State boasts four incredible travel destinations — Seattle, the San Juan Islands, the Olympic Peninsula and Mount Rainier.

When I was a young adult, I had the opportunity to sail to the Caribbean with friends on a last-minute three-night cruise.

Chef Norbert Niederkofler is perhaps the only chef in Italy who doesn’t cook with olive oil or lemon. His “local and seasonal” mindset goes far beyond the usual culinary mantra, and those staples don’t exist in his homeland. Northern and mountainous, Italy’s Dolomite mountains have more in common with Austria than Rome.

Last summer, I stepped outside my dew-covered tent in Bryce Canyon National Park after a night of tossing and turning.

This as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with Akso Heart, who attended Visit Finland's happiness masterclass. The course was meant to teach foreigners how to be happy like the Finns and was paid for by the country. The following has been edited for length and clarity.

Seeing some of Africa's most famous animals in the wild has been on my bucket list for years. With adventure travel on the rise, I decided to take the plunge and make the 20+ hour flight to Africa to visit some of Kenya's best safari parks.

Since its opening in 1965, Bal Harbour Shops has been the rare outdoor shopping center driven solely by luxury retail tenants. It was the first U.S. location outside New York for both Yves Saint Laurent and Oscar de la Renta. Developer Stanley Whitman claimed it was even the first mall to charge for parking.

Technology continues to make travel easier for millions of people around the globe. New apps offer travelers fresh ways to research a destination, connect with fellow globetrotters, communicate with locals, and track their flights. As a full-time digital nomad, I’ve learned the importance of having the right tools at your disposal when on the road.

Stepping into the lobby of the Gellért Baths in Budapest is like stepping back in time. Having resisted the temptation to look at photos of the baths online, I was thrilled at my first sight of the spectacular art nouveau interior.After changing, my husband and I did a few laps of the main indoor pool, admiring the intricately decorated columns surrounding us. Afterwards, we explored the building’s labyrinth of geothermal pools before emerging on to the enormous roof terrace. There, we swam in the heated outdoor pool under bright sunshine.

A frequent flyer who's racked up more than 23 million points shared the best way to pack for a trip.

Something of a mini-continent, the island of Sicily in Italy ticks most boxes. Adventurer, art lover, beach bum, ruin explorer: this rugged chunk of sun-spun land at the crossroads of the Tyrrhenian, Ionian and Mediterranean seas has enticed ancient and modern peoples with its charms since time immemorial. The result: one of Europe's richest and most extraordinary histories, with an unmatched booty of artistic and drop-dead-gorgeous natural treasures. The food and drink's not bad either.

I took a three-day trip to Europe in November 2023, spending two nights on sleeper trains. One was a 30-hour ride on one of the world's most luxurious locomotives — the Venice Simplon-Orient-Express.

Last September, my husband and I left our kids with their grandparents and set off to Ireland. Our $2,132 itinerary took us from Minneapolis to Toronto to Dublin on tickets booked on United Airlines through Expedia but ultimately operated by Air Canada, a United partner. We had boarded our connecting flight in Toronto (and I was already dozing in my seat) when the captain announced an operator had crashed the jet bridge into the starboard engine. We were given hotel vouchers and told we would be rebooked for the next day. Checkout time came and went without a word, so we went to the airport and were told to call Air Canada customer service. An agent booked us a flight for that evening, and we printed out boarding passes at an airport kiosk. But when we tried to board, we were told the boarding passes were invalid. Eventually, we were offered two options for the next day: Fly to Dublin via Newark, or return to Minneapolis. We cut our losses and went home after staying the night in Toronto at a hotel. But United refunded us only $1,087, barely half of what we paid. Air Canada did reimburse us for the second hotel and other expenses, but we believe the airlines owe us not only a full refund, but also 400 Canadian each ($295 apiece) under Canadian law for denied boarding. Both refused. Can you help?

The Oscars came and went on Sunday, with the movie “Oppenheimer” dominating the awards.

Oceania Cruises wants you to spend at least $59,700 — and 180 days — living on its newest cruise ship while it sails 360 degrees around the globe.